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Charles de Gaulle

Charles
André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (1890 – 1970)
was a French general and statesman. He was the leader of Free France (1940–1944) and the head of the Provisional Government
of the French Republic (1944–1946). In 1958, he founded the Fifth Republic and
was elected as the President of France, a position he held until his
resignation in 1969. He was the dominant figure of France during the Cold War
era and his memory continues to influence French politics.

Born in Lille, he graduated from
Saint-Cyr in 1912. He was a decorated officer of the First World War, wounded
several times, and later taken prisoner at Verdun. During the interwar period,
he advocated mobile armoured divisions. During the German invasion of May 1940,
he led an armoured division which counterattacked the invaders; he was then
appointed Under-Secretary for War. Refusing to accept his government's armistice
with Nazi Germany, de Gaulle exhorted
the French population to resist occupation and to continue the fight in his Appeal of 18 June. He led a government
in exile and the Free French Forces against the Axis. Despite frosty relations
with Britain and especially the United States, he emerged as the undisputed
leader of the French resistance. He became Head of the Provisional Government
of the French Republic in June 1944, the interim government of France following
its Liberation. As early as 1944, de Gaulle introduced a dirigisteeconomic
policy, which included substantial state-directed control over a capitalist
economy which was followed by 30 years of unprecedented growth.

Frustrated by the return of petty
partisanship in the new Fourth Republic, he resigned in early 1946 but
continued to be politically active as founder of the Rassemblement du Peuple
Français (RPF) party, which means "Rally of the French People." He
retired in the early 1950s and wrote a book about his experience in the war
titled War Memoirs, which quickly
became a classic of modern French literature. When the Algerian War was ripping
apart the unstable Fourth Republic, the National Assembly brought him back to
power during the May 1958 crisis. He founded the Fifth Republic with a strong
presidency, and he was elected to continue in that role. He managed to keep
France together while taking steps to end the war, much to the anger of the
Pieds-Noirs (Frenchmen settled in Algeria) and the military; both previously
had supported his return to power to maintain colonial rule. He granted
independence to Algeria and progressively to other French colonies.

In the context of the Cold War, de Gaulle initiated his "Politics
of Grandeur," asserting that France as a major power should not rely on
other countries, such as the US, for its national security and prosperity. To
this end, de Gaulle pursued a policy of "national independence" which
led him to withdraw from NATO's military integrated command and to launch an
independent nuclear development program that made France the fourth nuclear
power. He restored cordial Franco-German relations to create a European
counterweight between the Anglo-American and Soviet spheres of influence
through the signing of the Élysée Treaty in 1963. However, he opposed any development
of a supranational Europe, favouring a Europe of sovereign nations. De Gaulle openly criticised the US
intervention in Vietnam and the "exorbitant privilege" of the US
dollar. In his later years, his support for an independent Quebec and his two
vetoes against Britain's entry into the European Economic Community generated
considerable controversy.

Although re-elected President in
1965, in May 1968 he appeared likely to lose power amid widespread protests by
students and workers, but survived the crisis with backing from the Army and
won an election with an increased majority in the Assembly. De Gaulle resigned
in 1969 after losing a referendum in which he proposed more decentralization.
He died a year later at his residence in Colombey-les-Deux-Églises, leaving his
Presidential memoirs unfinished.